2ND Saturday Art + Justice Bonus: Emily Gould on the Colston 4 Trial and Acquittal

Send us Fan Mail

Show notes:

1:00 evidence at trial from historian David Olusoga regarding Colston's ownership of more slaves than any other Brit in history, one of the earliest, biggest slave traders 

1:30 Colston died circa 1720 

1:45 statue of Colston erected by Victorian dignitaries in Bristol

2:10 half of the schools, streets and whatever in Bristol are named after Colston

2:20 circa 1990s, true history of Colston revealed

3:25 in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, the Black Lives Matter protests group pushed Colston statue into the harbor 

3:45 restorative justice by others with community penalty

3:55 Colston 4 jury trial over prosecution of four individuals involved in toppling Colston statute

4:05 Elected for a Crown Court jury trial and were acquitted

5:20 Conservatives and those in the government, including the cabinet, expressed surprise at the verdict

6:10 UK Attorney General considered whether to send the case to the appeal court to consider whether there was an error of law in the direction of the jury

7:50 bill going through Parliament with a provision to increase the potential sentence for criminal damage against a public monument

8:15 proposed bill to change threshold that currently exists for criminal damage against a memorial or public monument with value under 5000 pounds, maximum sentence magistrates that could  impose was three months in prison

8:50 proposed bill is to remove financial threshold and make maximum sentence 10 years

Please share your comments and/or questions at [email protected]

Music by Toulme.

To hear more episodes, please visit Warfare of Art and Law podcast's website.

To leave questions or comments about this or other episodes of the podcast and/or for information about joining the 2ND Saturday discussion on art, culture and justice, please message me at [email protected]. 

Thanks so much for listening!

This podcast and its content may not be used for training or developing AI systems without permission.

© Stephanie Drawdy [2026]